Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Ukraine has no choice but to make a deal with the EU, but the Europeans will need a long-term strategy to manage relations with Kiev.
Neither the opposition leaders nor President Yanukovych know how how hard they can push back as they struggle to find a solution to rising tensions in Ukraine.
Protests in Istanbul and Kiev have similar root causes and similar effects. The demonstrations have shown that citizens can and do take charge in their demand for freedom.
The choice between Russia and the West should be Ukraine’s, and Russia should respect that choice and structure its relations with its neighbor accordingly.
Recent protests in the Ukrainian capital are the biggest since the Orange Revolution of 2004. There are signs that this time around, things might turn out differently.
Nation-building in Ukraine is a formidable task, its divided nation also a hurdle to a democratic development. Still, Ukraine seems to have a better chance of evolving as a democracy than Russia.
The presence of Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland in Kyiv raises important questions about the U.S. role in the crisis in Ukraine.
The time is now for Poland to support a peaceful dialogue between the Ukrainian opposition and President Yanukovych. It is also time for Warsaw to make the EU more aware that stability and peaceful transition in Ukraine is of crucial importance for the whole European security.
Putin’s Eurasian Union would be a set of political and economic structures, similar to the EU, that Russia would dominate. But this vision comes with a price; Ukraine’s economy is in trouble, just as Russia is suffering from low economic growth.
Angela Merkel has taken a first step toward a geopolitical competition with Russia over Eastern Europe, effectively ending years of cozy bilateral relations with Moscow.